Three Couples Flee to Crete and Meet Tragic Ends is a tale of escape whose promised freedom curdles into violence and dispersal. In the story told by Lauretta, Restagnone turns three lovers’ desire to live together into a plan for flight; the group reaches Crete and prospers, but the abundance they sought cannot protect them from jealousy, murder, or the coercive power of the island’s duke. By the end, two men and their companions have fled separately, one woman has been killed, and the lovers’ shared life has collapsed into poverty and uncertainty.

The Plan to Leave Marseilles

The story begins in Marseilles, where the wealthy merchant Narnald Cluada has three daughters. His eldest, Ninetta, is fifteen and secretly in love with Restagnone, a young man of gentle birth but little means. They have already arranged private meetings without anyone’s knowledge. Narnald’s two younger daughters, Maddalena and Bertella, are also loved: the rich young men Folco and Ughetto seek their company, and both couples return one another’s affection.

Restagnone sees in the newcomers’ wealth a way to overcome his own lack of resources. He proposes that Folco and Ughetto pool their fortunes with him and help take all three sisters away, so that the couples can live together elsewhere. His plan makes the lovers’ private attachments into a joint enterprise, and presents the promise of possession and shared pleasure as its reward. Ninetta agrees readily; she hopes to be with Restagnone without concealment and believes her sisters will follow her lead. The two men also consent, eager for the prospect of living with the women they love.

The group prepares secretly. The men sell land under the pretense of going abroad to trade, convert their other goods into money, and buy and outfit a light brigantine. On the appointed night, the sisters take money and jewels from a large chest belonging to their father and leave the house to meet their lovers. The six embark, row out to sea, and reach Genoa the following evening. After a brief stay, they continue from port to port and arrive in Crete before the eighth day.

Prosperity and the First Reversal

Near Candia, the six acquire substantial estates and build handsome, comfortable houses. With many servants, dogs, hawks, and horses, they live like lords, passing their days in feasts and merrymaking. Their arrival appears to fulfill Restagnone’s plan: the couples have escaped their former constraints and gained the wealth and leisure needed to enjoy one another.

That ease becomes the setting for the first rupture. Able to enjoy Ninetta without obstacle, Restagnone grows weary of her. At an entertainment, he sees a beautiful young woman of the country and begins courting her, lavishing hospitality and attentions on her. Ninetta hears of his pursuit and becomes consumed by jealousy. Her reproaches do not restore their earlier love; instead, the story describes them as intensifying Restagnone’s desire for the new woman. Ninetta comes to believe that he has obtained the other woman’s favors, whether or not the reports are true. Her love for Restagnone turns to hatred, and she decides to avenge what she regards as an injury by killing him.

Ninetta seeks the help of an old Greek woman skilled in making poison, persuading her with gifts and promises to prepare a lethal drink. One evening, when Restagnone is heated and unsuspecting, Ninetta gives it to him. The poison kills him before morning. Folco, Ughetto, and their companions grieve his death and arrange an honorable burial, not knowing that he died by poison or that Ninetta caused it. The death thus passes at first as an unexplained loss within the household, while the person responsible joins in mourning the man she has killed.

The Duke’s Bargain and Maddalena’s Death

The secret comes to light indirectly. The old woman who prepared the poison is arrested for another offense and, under torture, confesses to making it for Ninetta. The Duke of Crete then surrounds Folco’s palace at night and takes Ninetta prisoner. He does not torture her; he obtains her confession about Restagnone’s death without it. Folco and Ughetto learn privately from the duke why she has been taken and fear that she will be condemned to burn.

Maddalena tries to save her sister by accepting the duke’s long-pursued sexual demand. Though he has courted her for a long time, she has never before consented to please him. Now she sends word that she will yield if Ninetta is returned safely and the bargain remains secret. The duke agrees. He has Folco and Ughetto detained under the pretense of questioning them, then makes a show of putting Ninetta in a sack as if he intends to sink her at sea. Instead, he takes her to Maddalena and returns her the next morning, treating her release as payment for the night he has spent with Maddalena. He tells Maddalena that the encounter should not be their last and warns her to send Ninetta away, lest the duke himself face blame and be forced to prosecute her again.

Folco and Ughetto are released after being led to believe that Ninetta has been drowned. They return to comfort their companions for the supposed death of Maddalena’s sister. Folco soon discovers that Ninetta is still in the palace. Because he knows of the duke’s desire for Maddalena, he questions her and, after pressing her, forces her to reveal the bargain. Overcome with anger, he draws his sword and kills her, despite her pleas for mercy. The act converts the effort to save Ninetta into another death, and leaves Folco responsible for the killing of the woman he had loved.

Flight, False Accusation, and Dispersal

After killing Maddalena, Folco goes to Ninetta and pretends that he is taking her away as Maddalena had arranged, to keep her from falling into the duke’s hands again. Ninetta believes him and, afraid of renewed capture, leaves with him by night without saying farewell to her sister. They reach the shore with only the small amount of money Folco can gather, board a vessel, and depart. The story does not learn where they go.

The next day, Maddalena’s body is found. People who envy and hate Ughetto promptly report the murder to the duke. He rushes to the house, seizes Ughetto and his companion, and forces them to confess that they, together with Folco, were guilty of Maddalena’s death. At that point they do not know that Folco and Ninetta have already escaped. Facing the prospect of death, Ughetto and his companion bribe their guards with money they had hidden for emergencies. They flee by night, taking nothing else, and reach Rhodes, where they live for a short time in poverty and distress.

The three couples do not reach a common refuge or recover the life they built. Restagnone is dead; Maddalena is murdered; Folco and Ninetta disappear overseas; and Ughetto and his companion escape a wrongful accusation only to lose their property and live in hardship. The story’s reversals make the original flight a fragile promise: the group leaves Marseilles to secure love and pleasure, but on Crete wealth gives way to jealousy, coercion, and retaliation. Its final emphasis falls not on a restored household but on the costs borne by everyone as Restagnone’s desire and Ninetta’s rage set the others’ ruin in motion.